Wings
by Angelikah
Summary: Caroline and Kol were going to go on a road trip with Bonnie after graduating college. However, when Bonnie can't go, they have an unclaimed ticket to everything on their itinerary. Enter Kol's brother, who happened to meet Caroline on a plane earlier that week, and would very much like to keep in touch. Even Caroline's obsessive planning couldn't have prepared her for this. AU/AH
1. Miami

**A/N: This is the prologue, so it's kind of short. You might recognize part of this as a one-shot I wrote for Klaroweek awhile ago, which people have asked me to make into its own story. I've rewritten parts of it and added the bit at the end, so even if you've read the one-shot, you'll want to reread this chapter.  
Thank you to queenvampirebarbie for the cover. This story is dedicated to her and Bex.  
Enjoy!**  
 **-Angie**

* * *

Klaus hated planes, especially small ones where all the seats were cramped together.

This was such a plane. There were four seats per aisle, and barely any room in the glove compartments. He cursed himself yet again for not checking what kind of plane the flight was scheduled for.

If there was anything that Klaus hated more than planes, it was sitting next to people who talked (or chewed loudly, snored, drooled, had to climb over him to go to the bathroom every five seconds, or had babies).

This girl sitting next to him looked like a talker. She was also blonde, gorgeous, and very clearly terrified out of her mind. She sat silently, reading her magazine while she waited for the plan to take off, though her hands were shaking slightly, and she was pale.

She clutched the pages even harder when the plane started to taxi to the runway, and he coughed quietly. "Err...are you all right?"

 _Please don't puke on my suit. It was expensive._

"Yeah. Yeah I think so," she said, slowly, her voice shaky. The plane gave a small lurch as they pulled onto the runway and she suddenly shook her head frantically. "No, no, actually I'm really, _really_ not."

"Are you afraid of flying?"

She nodded wordlessly, her eyes scrunched shut as she dropped her magazine to grip the armrest. He gently placed his hand on hers, and when she didn't tear it away, he spoke softly to her. "It's all right, love. Just breathe."

She nodded, trying to take deep breaths, and he coached her through it, wondering how horrible of a person it made him to be thankful that the rest of his family had forced him to be the one to deal with Kol's panic attacks during thunderstorms.

"What's your name, love?"

"Caroline."

"May I ask where you're headed?"

"Miami," Caroline said distractedly.

He bit down the sarcastic ' _really, I never would have guessed',_ instead saying, "I see. So am I, actually."

"For what?" she asked, clearly realizing that he was trying to get her mind off the plane, which was now hurtling down the runway.

"My brother's college graduation."

She nodded, accepting the ginger ale the flight attendant handed her and sipping from it.

The flight was a red-eye, and it would be a long six hours, he was sure. He kept making small talk with her, trying to get her to calm down, and felt incredibly relieved when she finally did so about half an hour after take-off. They continued to talk quietly, and he found that she was surprisingly witty and giggly when she wasn't almost hyperventilating.

She yawned about an hour and a half into the flight, and Klaus smiled slightly. "You should probably sleep. We'll be on the ground before you know it."

He winced at the look on her face and realized she must have forgotten that they were thousands of feet above the ground. "Probably," she agreed, gulping, and he sighed.

"It'll be fine, love."

She nodded, leaning back into her seat and closing her eyes before opening them again and looking at him. "What's _your_ name?"

"Klaus."

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks, Klaus."

Klaus nodded and pulled out a book and a portable reading lamp so as not to disturb Caroline, who fell asleep fairly quickly. About forty-five minutes later he felt a weight drop onto his shoulder and turned to see Caroline's head resting there.

Her floral scent filled his nostrils and he closed his eyes, trying to center himself. It wasn't like he'd ever see her again.

 **XXX**

Okay, he'd been wrong.

He watched her attack _his brother_ in a hug, dressed in an identical cap and gown. Kol wrapped an arm around her shoulders and dragged her over to where he and Elijah were standing (Rebekah having decided that she was too cool for her brother's college graduation, and Finn busy with his wife Sage).

She frowned when she saw him and was about to speak when Kol introduced them.

"This is Caroline. Caroline, these are my brothers, Elijah and–"

"Klaus."

Kol raised an eyebrow.

"We've met. On the plane."

"Oh," Kol said shortly, giving Klaus what could only be described as a suspicious look.

Caroline seemed to realize where it was going when she elbowed him in the side. "Kol, it's fine. He talked me down. He wasn't mean, or anything."

"Yes, I'd had quite enough practice with you to be getting on with," Klaus said dryly, ignoring Kol's ' _you're embarrassing me_ ' look, trademarked by little brothers everywhere.

"Hey, don't be mean," Caroline said, pinning Klaus with a startlingly chastising look.

"Sorry, love," he said without thinking, and Kol and Elijah both turned to him, mouths agape, completely floored by his response.

"What?" he and Caroline both snapped.

Kol burst out laughing, and Caroline huffed. "Stop it, Kol."

"I can't."

"Bonnie's over there, she's going to think you're weird," Caroline hissed, and Kol immediately stopped laughing, looking in the direction that Caroline had pointed in.

"Who's Bonnie, little brother?"

"Just a friend," Kol said hastily.

Caroline smirked but changed the subject. "So, how long are you guys going to be here? I know Kol said that his family was staying for the week before we leave. Is that just you guys?"

"Before you leave?" Elijah asked.

"I told you, brother. Caroline, Bonnie, and I are taking a roadtrip for the summer."

"Bonnie is the one you were giving longing looks to, correct?"

"Shut up, Elijah."

"But she agreed to this?" Klaus asked. "Does she know what she's getting into?"

"Of course she did. I invited her," Caroline said waspishly. "It's all part of Kol's grand master plan to set them up."

"Excuse me, darling, it's _your_ grand master plan. I just exist in your orbit of planning."

"Well, I don't know about that, but I think it'll be fun."

"I should hope so, since in true 'you' form, you've already reserved hotel spots and planned our itinerary, complete with color-coding," Kol said teasingly, before turning to his brothers. "We're off next week, so you'll have to have cleared off by then."

"Oh don't worry, I will have," Klaus muttered before Caroline spoke over him.

"Hey, you can't blame me for planning, okay? You know that I've never really been anywhere but home and here."

"Where are you from?" Klaus asked interestedly.

"A really small town in Virginia."

"That's nice."

She shrugged

"Okay, well, just so you know, I'm staying with Kol for the last few days of the week. I'm shipping my stuff home, and there's no point going back to Virginia for only a few days. Especially, since, you know…"

"You'd have to fly," Klaus finished for her.

She nodded, blushing slightly. "Yeah. Thanks for that, by the way."

He nodded, and they stood there awkwardly until a girl came up to them and hugged Caroline to congratulate her, giving Kol a very obvious once-over before leaving, her hips swaying a bit too much. "What are your plans for the summer, Nik? Elijah?" Kol asked, pointedly not looking at the girl.

"I must return to the office as soon as possible," Elijah said stiffly. "I was planning on staying only the night."

Klaus could see Kol deflate just a fraction, and he felt a bit bad. The significant age difference between the older brothers and Kol, Rebekah, and Henrik combined with the fact that their parents didn't really parent all that well meant that Elijah was somewhat of a parental figure to Kol, and him leaving as soon as he possibly could had to hurt.

"Well, perhaps we should go to dinner and celebrate, then," Klaus said, giving Elijah a prompting look.

"Ah, yes, that sounds like an excellent idea."

"Are you staying the week, Nik?" Kol interrupted, clearly uninterested in whatever Elijah had to say.

"Yes. My next gallery showing isn't until August. I have quite a bit of time."

"Excellent."

"Shall we, then?" Elijah asked, straightening his suit jacket, which he hadn't taken off despite the ninety-degree heat.

Caroline looked vaguely uncomfortable. "So, um...I should–"

"Do you want to go to dinner with us?" Klaus interrupted before she could excuse herself.

She smiled slightly. "Sure. I think I'd like that."

He nearly missed the significant look Kol and Elijah exchanged, but him taking an interest in a girl wasn't _that_ unprecedented, was it?

 **XXX**

"Hey, Care," Bonnie said when Caroline answered the phone, her voice tired. "I have some bad news."

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"No," her friend said, and Caroline heard her start sniffling. "My...my Grams died."

"Oh, Bon, I'm so sorry!"

She could hear Bonnie trying to even her breathing. "Yeah. I...Well, my dad wants me to come home, you know?"

"Of course, Bon. It's totally fine," Caroline said sympathetically. "Let me know if you need anything. Call often too, okay?"

"Yeah. Okay. I'll talk to you soon, Care."

"Yeah, you too."

"I'm sorry I can't go."

"Don't be sorry, Bon! It's fine."

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye," Caroline said, hanging up and putting her phone down next to her, biting her lip.

"What's going on, darling?" Kol asked when he walked into the room.

"Bonnie can't come. Her Grams died."

"Oh," Kol said uncomfortably.

They were silent for a few minutes, just sitting there in a semi-awkward silence before Caroline spoke again. "Ugh, this sucks. Now we have like, one extra ticket to everything."

"Maybe you shouldn't have planned so early," Kol said, his voice only half-teasing.

"But I don't want to waste them."

Kol shrugged. "We could ask someone else to go?"

"Like who? You hate Elena, Katherine has her internship at Vogue, your sister hates me," Caroline said, ticking the options off on her fingers.

"Nik could come," Kol suggested.

Caroline shifted uncomfortably. "I guess."

"You don't like him?"

"No, no. I mean, I like him fine."

"I just haven't been able to spend much time with him since I left for school," Kol said in a rare moment of vulnerability.

And really, how could she say no to that? Kol's family wasn't very close, and though he was quite closed off about their family's history, she knew that they had a rocky relationship.

"Okay. Well, you can ask him," Caroline said, shrugging.

"All right. Thanks, Care."

"Of course."

Kol grinned at her and left, coming back less than ten minutes later. "He says he'll go."

"Great!" Caroline said, trying to sound enthusiastic.

It wasn't that she didn't like Klaus. She was pretty neutral, to be honest. However, she didn't like how he made her feel when he was in close proximity, the way her skin heated and her stomach clenched. Being in very close quarters with him for the entire summer wasn't something she was sure she could handle. However, Kol was already excited, and who knew, it could turn out to be fun. She'd just have to make sure that things stayed platonic and professional between them.

Yes, platonic and professional. It would be easy to pull off, right?

* * *

 **A/N: Please tell me your thoughts! I have a rough idea of where this is going, but I still need to write it down as an outline. I'm excited to write Kol, Klaus, and Caroline together on a roadtrip. I can't get enough of writing Kol. It's starting to be a problem. He's just too much fun...  
Let me know what you think in a review, since that's the only way I'll improve as a writer! Again, this chapter is a prologue, so it'll be a little bit shorter than the usual chapters.  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


	2. Washington DC

**A/N: It's been awhile. Sorry about that! Just a reminder: This story is going to be a lot shorter than my other stories, and tells the story of the beginning of their relationship. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)  
Enjoy!**  
 **-Angie**

* * *

"How are we going to get to the museum if we're not driving?" Klaus asked tiredly, taking a sip of the to-go coffee from the coffee shop a block from the hotel.

Caroline had woken them up at 7:30, banging on the connected door that connected their hotel rooms, insisting that they had to be ready to go soon so they could get into the Natural History Museum when it opened.

"We're taking the metro," Caroline said as she walked towards the steps that would take them underground.

"The underground," Kol said to Klaus, and he rolled his eyes.

"I know what the metro is Kol. It's just so…"

"Unsanitary? Loud? Full of people?" Caroline suggested with a bright smile _much_ too cheerful for such an ungodly hour, in Klaus's personal opinion.

He was self-employed and not a morning person, which essentially meant sleeping in until ten on a good day, but his brother's friend was perfectly happy and ready to take on the day.

Ugh. Morning people.

He followed her to the ticket machines where they all bought tickets before going to the turnstiles. Caroline checked the metro map again and led the way to the correct platform.

Klaus had never been comfortable on trains, mostly because, as Caroline had pointed out, they were crammed with people he'd rather not be nose to elbow with in a very loud tube.

Caroline and Kol were unbothered however, and were chattering about something or other to do with television. He was content to stand quietly, holding onto the railing as the car came to a stop. Caroline, however, was not so lucky, and she stumbled slightly.

He caught her around the middle, pulling her to him, her curves soft against his body, and she gave him a small smile as he let her go once they'd stopped. "Thanks."

"Not a problem, love."

 **XXX**

"We have to do the dinosaurs first," Kol said as soon as they were inside the large building, and Caroline nodded.

"Okay, so we can spend an hour in the Dinosaur exhibit, and then we can see the rest of it, but I definitely want to look at the ocean exhibit and the elephants," Caroline said cheerfully, dragging Kol down the appropriate hallway, Klaus following behind them, his sketchbook under his arm (just in case he found inspiration), his hands in his pockets.

"And the gift shop," Kol added.

"And the gift shop, yeah."

Klaus found himself slightly amused by Caroline's determination to make sure that they had time for everything. They were in Washington DC for only two days. That day was devoted to the Natural History Museum and some obligatory monument-seeing (something he knew that none of them were enthused about, including Caroline, but she and Kol both ganged up on him for Instagram purposes), and the next day would be the Air and Space Museum and the Botanical Garden.

He'd seen Caroline's neatly printed (and very detailed) schedule that morning, and had tried to contain his disbelief to a simple raised eyebrow.

He followed them as they walked through the halls, looking through everything on display. He was oddly more enthralled by Caroline looking at the exhibits than he was by the exhibits themselves. Her eyes lit up when she found something interesting, and he had to fight down a smile when she and Kol got in a debate about whether cloning dinosaurs would be a good idea.

"But darling, imagine the possibilities! If we could tame them and have them as pets! Wouldn't you want a pet triceratops?"

"Have you _seen_ Jurassic Park?" Caroline asked, her hands on her hips. "That just screams terrible idea. We'd all die."

"Jurassic Park is fictional. How do we know that dinosaurs are dangerous?"

"What do you think, Klaus?" Caroline asked, rounding on him.

She gave him wide 'seriously, agree with me' eyes, and he grinned. "Sorry love, but I think that as long as we're careful, cloning them could be interesting."

Caroline rolled her eyes, bending to read the plaque next to a large pterodactyl skeleton. "You both have death wishes."

"Or we just think dinosaurs are brilliant."

"Whatever," she grumbled good-naturedly. "You guys are nuts."

They moved on to the next exhibit, which was the evolution of elephants, and Kol took off immediately for the interactive station (his brother could only stand still and look at animal constructs for a limited amount of time before he needed to do something with his hands), and Klaus followed Caroline to one of said elephant models.

She was sitting on a bench, her chin propped in one hand as she stared at the exhibit.

"I love elephants," she said softly.

"Any particular reason?" he asked, trying to just keep her looking at the exhibit like that, to commit her wide, bright eyes to memory so that he could attempt to replicate them with paint.

"I don't know. They're resilient and powerful. I guess they just represent perseverance? To me, at least."

"You don't have to have a reason to like something, love."

"I know," she said, shrugging and giving him a sideways smile.

He felt something tug in his chest, and he smiled back before pulling a pencil out of his back pocket and opening his sketchbook. "I'm just going to go sit down for a bit, love. If that's all right."

"Okay. Kol looks like he'll be done in a few minutes. We'll probably go see the salamanders next. I swear to god, he's like, five."

"Oh, I'm aware."

She laughed, and he couldn't help but love the sound.

"Are you going to come with us or just sit here for awhile?"

"I'll catch up. You can text me when you're ready to go."

"Oh, okay. Um, I don't think I have your number."

They exchanged numbers and he watched as she grabbed Kol's arm, dragging him away towards the salamanders, before he opened his sketchbook again, his pencil moving rapidly across the page.

 **XXX**

"So, now that we're finally away from Nik, I have to warn you that fancying him is most likely not in your best interest," Kol said as soon as they were out of earshot of his brother.

"What do you mean?"

"He's not really the relationship type," Kol said diplomatically.

"That's good, because I'm not looking for a relationship with him," she said before blushing as she realized what she'd implied. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that I'm happy being single. Stop laughing at me, Kol. You know what I meant."

He shrugged and gave her a cheeky smile, not bothering to apologize. "Look, I just don't want you to get hurt, all right?"

"Are you saying I can't handle myself?"

"No, I'm saying that, as your friend, I feel obligated to warn you before you do something that has the potential to end badly."

"All relationships fail until you find one that works, Kol," Caroline said without thinking, before snapping her mouth shut with an audible click as he started sniggering again. "I didn't mean that I wanted-Ugh, shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

 **XXX**

"Can we stop here for a bit?" Klaus asked, jerking his head at the American Museum of Art.

Caroline frowned. "That's not on the schedule, Klaus. We were going to go to the Air and Space Museum."

"So?"

"So, I didn't plan time for it, which means that if we went we'd have less time for other things."

"Why do we have to keep to the schedule?"

"Because otherwise blood will be shed, Nik. Clearly you have never been on the business end of one of Caroline's highlighters. They're surprisingly sharp."

Caroline elbowed Kol in the side, rolling her eyes. "I don't know. It's just easier. I like knowing where we're going."

"Well, some spontaneity never hurt anyone, sweetheart."

She dragged her teeth across her lower lip, clearly weighing the pros and cons of not following the schedule before nodding. "Okay. But just a little while."

"The rocket museum is supposed to be brilliant, Nik. If we don't get to see it–"

"Air and Space Museum," Caroline corrected, even as she walked up the steps to the front doors of the art museum. "I think we can spare an hour or two."

"Two hours isn't enough time," Klaus said immediately.

Caroline bit her lip. "I mean, if you want to stay here while Kol and I go to the museum in an hour, we can meet up later?"

He felt an inexplicable feeling of disappointment well up inside of him, but nodded. "All right."

"Actually, let's stay," Kol said, and Klaus and Caroline both swiveled to look at him in surprise. "The whole point of this trip was to try new things, Caroline. And to spend some quality time together. Let Nik show us around."

Caroline's eyes softened, and she nodded. "Okay. Do you want me to wait in the cafe for you guys?"

"No. Come with us," Kol said firmly, and she nodded.

"Okay."

Klaus led the way to the modern art exhibit, and guided them towards a painting he thought Kol might like. Kol listened raptly, ribbing him every now and then and making comments just to be contrary, though Klaus had a feeling it was more to spend time with him than anything else.

Kol had been an annoyingly precocious child. He'd skipped a grade, making him a year younger than Caroline, and was a general nuisance when they were younger.

Though Klaus had often brushed him off, as older brothers did, he knew that Kol hadn't spent much time with anyone older and male (since Mikael had thankfully offed himself about a year after Henrik was born), and though both of them would never admit it, he knew that Kol most likely treasured the moments they spent together as much as Klaus did.

Caroline floated behind them, mostly keeping silent, a furrow in her brow with her head tilted as she looked at the paintings.

"You all right, Caroline?"

She started, clearly having not been listening, and smiled at him. "Yeah, this is cool."

He had a feeling that she wasn't being entirely truthful, but let it go, and they walked further down the hall.

"Do you like any of them so far?"

"Yeah. They're pretty," she said, shooting him an unsure glance. "I don't know. I've just never really connected with art. Like, I like it, and I think it's pretty, but it's never really been an interest. This is nice, though."

"Well, we'll just have to change that, won't we?" Klaus asked with a dimpled grin, which grew wider as she hesitantly smiled back.

"Sure."

Klaus and Kol bickered through the sculptures, and when they got to the paintings from the early 1800s, he saw Caroline bite her lip and walk towards one of a man on a horse, clearly about to go to war.

"Do you like it?"

"Yeah, I like horses."

He smiled slightly. "Is that honestly what you get from it? Just a horse?"

"No. I mean, I get the emotion behind it, I guess. I can see how afraid he is, but how much he wants to do whatever he's doing. The colors seem sort of sad."

"Interesting. Do you see how the lines guide your eye to the sword?" he asked, reaching to point at the lines he meant, and she laughed quietly.

"Okay, Mr. Art History, let's not get carried away here."

"You honestly don't think it's meaningful? How the man knows he's most likely riding to his death, but still pushes forward? The man running off to war, the horse rearing back as he raises his sword? The fight in him?"

Caroline tilted her head to the side. "I see what you're saying, I think."

"It's all right, you don't have to pretend to like it if you don't."

"No, I do," she hastened to assure him, and he could hear the sincerity in her voice. "I guess I just don't like it in the same way you do? If that makes sense."

"I suppose."

"I guess I just mean that we see the world through different lenses. I like structure and knowing what the plan is and where we're headed. I think you like the thrill of the unknown."

"Perhaps," he said slowly. "Or I could just like knowing that I have rules in place that I can break. I don't think we're all that different, Caroline."

Her eyes widened slightly, and he heard her breath catch.

"So, if you two are done with your moment, I think now would be an excellent time for lunch," Kol drawled, and both of them started, a bit surprised to be pulled out of their conversation.

"Right. Lunch," Caroline said slowly. "Yeah. I could do lunch."

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the chapter :) Please let me know what you thought. Constructive feedback is the way I improve, and reviews motivate me to write ;)  
Hugs!  
-Angie**


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